‘Crypto Valley of Asia’ To Rise In The Philippines, Secures $100M Investment

A new development estate dubbed Crypto Valley of Asia (CVA) is set to rise in the Philippines designed to push further economic growth in the northern part of the country’s major island of Luzon.

Private property developer Northern Star Gaming & Resorts Inc. (Northern Star) together with government-owned and controlled corporation Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) are pooling their resources to build CVA. Both made the announcement on Friday in Cagayan province attended no less than president Rodrigo Duterte.

Also envisioned to rise in Crypto Valley are a world-class internet data center, crypto mining firms, self-contained power production facilities, and a state-of-the-art cyber security and risk assessment facility.

Northern Star claims to have secured international and regional companies to locate within the CVA estate, which will be rolled out in three phases. It previously committed gross investments of up to US$100 million over the next 10 years.

Northern Star is an early investor in CEZA’s Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport (CSEZFP), an international gateway with a modern seaport and airport and ample surrounding land area for industrial, commercial and tourism development.

CVA will be built with the Sierra Madre Mountain Range as a backdrop. Its Phase 1 consists of a 25-shop housing development inside the cyberpark that will showcase services and amenities such as co-working and living spaces, business incubation and acceleration hubs as well as back offices of overseas virtual exchanges (OVEs) and service providers to the global crypto space.

A list of locators include Malaysia-based co-working space firm Common Ground, Singapore’s state-of-the-art cyber security and risk assessment by Horangi, and Blackpanda (Philippines). Blockchain Academy, in collaboration with Hanwha of Korea, will also be among the premier locators.

Both CEZA CEO Sec. Raul L. Lambino and Northern Star chairman Enrique Gonzalez asserted the Philippines can become one of the major off-shoring destinations for fintech and blockchain related work.

“Crypto Valley of Asia and CEZA will put the Philippines on the global map of fintech and blockchain. Similar to other progressive jurisdictions such as Zug of Switzerland, we will create an environment that fosters innovation, entrepreneurship and critical skills development thru education and BPO training,”

About Author

Tom Noda is covering the Philippines Fintech market for Fintechnews. He is a former correspondent of DealStreetAsia, Newsbytes.ph, Computerworld Philippines, and social media strategist of Philstar.com.